Brooks, A. and Agate, E. (for British Trust for Conservation Volunteers - BTCV) (2001) Water and
Wetlands: a Practical Handbook. BTCV, Wallingford (And other handbooks in this series)
Gilg, A. (1996) Countryside Planning: the First Half Century. Routledge, London
Green, B. (1996) Countryside Conservation: Land Ecology, Planning and Management. Taylor and
Francis, London
Hall, C.M. and Page, S.J (2006) The Geography of Tourism and Recreation. Routledge, London.
Tait, J. et al. (1988) Practical Conservation: Site Assessment and Management Planning. Hodder
and Stoughton, Sevenoaks. (And related handbooks in this series.)
Yarwood, R. and Bale, J. (eds) (2002) Countryside Conflicts. Geographical Association, London

'Food and Agriculture', `National and Country Parks/ and `Conservation/ sections of the Sciences Learning Resource Centre and access to the map collection in the Sciences Learning Resource Centre

Key Internet sites, such as:
DEFRA UK, for England Rural Development Programme: http://www.defra.gov.uk/erdp/default.htm
Natural England - for `landscape'-related material: http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/
MAGIC (Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside) http://www.magic.gov.uk/

Component 1: A two-hour examination [50 per cent], consisting of (a) a one-hour essay answer, and (b) a shorter answer section, in the form of data interpretation (maps, data tables). [Learning outcomes 1 - 7, inclusive]
Component 2: A coursework essay of 1250 to 1500 words, on a specific issue, selected by the student [50 per cent]. This is to test ability to investigate and illustrate local examples and issues, and to relate them to broader rural theories and concepts. [Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 5, 7]

Formative Assessment: Students will be provided with the opportunity to receive feedback on their coursework essay plans

Classroom-based learning approaches will be divided about equally between ten hours of lecture and ten hours of workshop discussion and/or other activities (which may include short map- or IT-based exercises, role-play, for example). A day field class in the local area will exemplify some of the issues raised in the module (8 hours).

None

During recent decades, the pace of change in the British countryside has accelerated, and the range of demands upon it has proliferated. Despite recent efforts to simplify rural delivery structures, these still challenge the understanding, not only of students of countryside management but, often, of countryside practitioners, consumers and residents themselves. For this reason, a central purpose of the module is to provide a critical understanding of the organisation of coherent countryside management policies together with an identification of, and suggested routes to, the resolution of `contested' claims to the countryside. We first offer a reminder of the major aspects of change over the past century, as a means of identifying key protagonists in the countryside debate. We then address interpretations of, and approaches to, the process of `management' of countryside resources and places, both conceptually and more specifically, through the use of examples and case studies (for example, of designated areas such as country parks and of particular environments such as the uplands or green spaces in the urban fringe). The issue of `access to countryside', by existing and less-traditional users, is an important, underlying theme of much of the module material. Our aim is to develop an understanding of both theoretical and applied aspects of countryside management, in the interests of broad, geographical understanding but also as an appropriate starting-point for potential countryside-related career paths of graduates.